Taking Chances
by The Doctor's Charlene
Summary: The Doctor/OC (Time Lady). Artemis was only six years old when the Time War began, not old enough to join the Academy, or look in the Untempered Schism. Wanting to protect their daughter from seeing the horrors of war, her parents sent her to Earth with a perception filter around her neck to keep her hidden as a Time Lady. More inside...
1. Rise of the Cybermen, Part 1

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Doctor Who and never will. But I do own Artemis and any other characters I come up if any.

**Summary: **Artemis was only six years old when the Time War began, not old enough to join the Academy, or look in the Untempered Schism. Wanting to protect their daughter from seeing the horrors of war, her parents sent her to Earth with a perception filter around her neck to keep her hidden as a Time Lady. However, the Earth they sent her to wasn't like our own. It was a parallel Earth, one that a certain Doctor would eventually refer to as Pete's World. It wasn't long until she built a life for herself after being taken in by Pete and Jackie Tyler, who insisted on taking her in because at least this way they could have a kid without her having to gain that extra weight. As she grew up, Artemis never took off her perception filter, remembering the words her mother told her before sending her away, 'Never take this off. This will protect you from the humans.' Some days, she wanted to take it off as she hated staying hidden and not being able to show her full potential. But mother's words rang her ears every time she would even think about taking it off. Artemis thought she would never be able to show her real self to anyone, at least that was until she met the Doctor at her adoptive mother's fortieth birthday party.

**Author's Note:** I thought about this storyline one day and I decided that I needed to write it down. I'm really excited about this one since it starts in a episode that I haven't started in before, which is always fun. And this is another Time Lady fanfic, but the Time Lady in this one doesn't have an official title since she didn't go through the Academy, so she's simply Artemis, which is her actual name. Her relationship with the Doctor should be pretty interesting too. She's only ever heard stories about, some of them good, some of them bad. This will be a Doctor/OC Time Lady fanfic eventually though. When she does figure out her feelings, she denies it. It's like that song, I Won't Say I'm In Love, because she really doesn't and won't until she wants to. Obviously by the title of this chapter, it starts in the Rise of the Cybermen episode, but it kind of cuts to the middle of it when the Doctor finds the charger inside of the TARDIS and goes to tell Rose about it with Mickey. Oh and one more thing, at first, it'll be in the Doctor's POV but we'll get into Artemis's POV later on. Anyway, I'll stop and let you get to reading the story! :D Enjoy my friends!

* * *

The Doctor practically swaggered down the street of the Thames, proud that he figured out a way to get them home, away from the parallel world. Mickey Smith, who was right beside him, only shook his head at him in bemusement, which he ignored. No one was going to get him down today, not even Mickey the Idiot.

As they grew closer to this bench, the Doctor saw Rose Tyler sitting down there, causing him to beam.

"There you are!" he called enthusiastically. "You all right? No applause, I fixed it!" Finally making it over to her, he showed her the power cell, beaming away like Father Christmas. "Twenty-four hours, then we're flying back to reality." He sat down on the bench next to her, holding it up towards her. But she didn't look at it, a sad expressing on her face. Before he could ask, he saw the mobile in her hand and his grin faded. He frowned. He told her not to look him up. It would only lead to heartbreak and it looked like it did.

The Doctor sighed then. "What is it?"

Rose didn't even look at him. "My phone connected…" she said quietly. "There's this…Cybus Network, it finds your phone. It gave me internet access."

He gave her a serious look. "Rose, whatever it says, this is the wrong world."

She ignored him, "I don't exist."

"What do you mean?"

"There's no Rose Tyler. I was never born. There's Pete, my dad, and Jackie…he still married mum…but they never had kids…" She sighed heavily. "At least not in the normal way…" She glanced over at him and at his confused look, she elaborated, "They adopted a girl…she's my age now…and she's beautiful…in this…elegant way…" Tears filled her eyes.

Not wanting her to feel any more pain, the Doctor tried to snatch the mobile from her. "Give me that phone."

She quickly pulled it out of his grip. "They're rich. They've got a house and cares, a beautiful, elegant daughter…who's not even me!" Her voice rose angrily at the end then fell as a thinking expression crossed her face. "She's not even me…" She sounded close to tears now and the Doctor wished there was something he could do to comfort her but there was no words he could say that she hadn't already heard. Still, he opened his mouth to try to. He didn't have time as Rose stood up from the bench only to walk away from it. After a moment, she turned back around and looked over at him.

The words that came out of her mouth were ones the Doctor didn't want to hear.

"I've gotta see him."

"You _can't_." The Doctor stressed out. Seeing him wouldn't do _any _good, wouldn't change anything. But that didn't matter to Rose.

"I just wanna see him."

"I can't let you!" he argued as he stood up from the bench.

Rose glared at him. "You just said twenty-four hours!" she exclaimed angrily.

"You can't become their daughter, and you definitely can't take the place of their adopted daughter, it doesn't work like that!" Knowing that he would be on his side, the Doctor turned his head towards Mickey. "Mickey, tell her."

Instead of telling her, Mickey stood up from the bench and stated, "Twenty-four hours, yeah?"

A bewildered expression crossed the Doctor's face. "Where're you going?!"

"Well, I can do what I want!"

"I've got the address and everything," Rose added as she walked backwards, down in the other direction of Mickey.

Furiously, the Doctor looked back and forth between the two. "Stay where you are, both of you!" he warned but didn't make a move to stop either them as subconsciously he knew it would be of no use. "Rose, come back here! Mickey, come back right here right now!"

"I just want to see him," Rose said, giving him a pleading look.

"Yeah, I've got things to see and all."

"Like WHAT?!" What could he want to see here? The Doctor didn't get it.

Mickey just shook his head, almost sadly. "Well, you don't know anything about me, do ya? It's always about _Rose_. I'm just a _spare part_."

The Doctor looked at Rose as she walked away, giving him an apologetic expression.

"I'm sorry. I've gotta go."

He turned away from Rose to look at Mickey. They were both walking away from him and he didn't know which one to run after. It was more important to stop Rose though…

Mickey stopped walking and met the Doctor's gaze as he gestured to Rose. "Go on then," he said, understanding in his eyes. "No choice, is there? You can only chase after one of us, and it's never gonna be me, is it?"

The Doctor looked back at his Rose as she turned forward and left down the street.

"Back here in twenty-four hours!" he finally told Mickey before running after Rose, not hearing his words as he stared at his retreating back.

"Yeah…if I haven't found something better…"

* * *

In a large and gorgeous mansion where Pete and Jackie Tyler lived at, a loud yelp was heard from one of the rooms in the house.

Inside the room, a young woman around the age of nineteen, was sitting down on a chair in front of her vanity and wiggled in the seat as Jackie Tyler fixed her hair for the party that the Tylers were throwing tonight. Her name was Artemis Tyler, the adopted daughter of Pete and Jackie, who was starting to get frustrated with her.

"Stop wriggling Artemis." she scolded her adopted daughter. "I can't fix your hair if you don't."

"Maybe I would stop if you wouldn't keep trying to pull my hair out!" Artemis argued.

As if this was something she heard before, Jackie rolled her eyes. "Oh, stop complaining, there are worse things to complain about."

"Like that dress you're making me wear…" Artemis grumbled. Oh how she loathed wearing dresses, give her pants and combat boots any day.

"Oi!" Jackie slapped her on the shoulder, giving her a glare, which she saw in the mirror.

Artemis winced. "Sorry." Luckily, her mother's face softened.

"It's alright…I know you don't like wearing dresses but thank you wearing one tonight…" Jackie told her softly and she smiled at her mother in the mirror as her hand reached up to play with the butterfly necklace around her neck.

"No problem, mum. It's not every day you turn forty." Artemis' smile turned into a teasing grin. This earned another glare from Jackie, but it was a playful one.

"Oh be quiet, I'm not forty, I'm thirty-nine, thank you very much." She stuck her nose in the air in a rather stuck up way then she looked back down at Artemis and laughed loudly, making Artemis laugh too. Once they finished laughing, Jackie changed the subject with a smile, "Come on, let's finish up your hair and no wiggling this time. We have to make your hair beautiful, you're a Tyler after all and Tylers have to look their best, yeah?"

Artemis let out a chuckle. "But of course." She winked at Jackie, who gave another loud laugh as she shook her head and got back to work on her hair.

Because she hadn't wiggled, Jackie got her hair done thirty minutes later. It was done in a French braid at the side of her head in a rather elegant way. This was usually how she wore her hair when there was a party at the Tyler mansion, but thankfully, they didn't have many fancy parties, only during special days like this one.

What made today extra special, not just because it was Jackie's birthday, the President was coming, which Jackie was rather excited about.

But Artemis was relived that her hair was finally done. Now all she had to do was get dressed and then get the party over with. She would smile, chat, and pretend to have a good time. Artemis was a simple kind of girl. She would rather go hiking, than go to a party, especially with people that were more her parent's friends than hers.

"Alright, I'll leave you to get dressed," Jackie told Artemis, causing the young girl to look over at her. "While I go check on the caterers." Once her daughter nodded, she left the room, closing the door behind her, but then her head popped back in. "Oh and you should take off that butterfly necklace, it doesn't go with the dress." With that, she left the room again.

Artemis' hand went to her necklace and twisted the butterfly in between her fingers with a frown. She couldn't take it off for reasons unknown to Jackie and the rest of the world.

She might look like a normal, human girl, but she wasn't…she was an alien. A Time Lady, to be exact.

The last of her kind…at least that's what she _thinks_.

* * *

**TBC...**

**In...**

**Rise of the Cybermen, Part 1**

**Sorry for the shortness of this part and the next one. I just really wanted to post this one so I can work on updating other stories. Since I've been busy with my CNA classes, I haven't been updating, so this weekend is dedicated to updating. So let's see how much I can get done this weekend! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and don't worry, we will see a lot more of Artemis in the upcoming chapters!**

**Until next time then! **

**The Doctor's Charlene :D**


	2. Rise of the Cybermen, Part 2

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Doctor Who and never will. But I do own Artemis and any other characters I come up if any.

**Author's Note: **Here's the last part of Rise of the Cybermen! Enjoy!

* * *

After some convincing from Rose (who only just gave him the puppy dog eyes and he was a goner), the Doctor gave in and decided to take her to see Pete. Now, though, there was a good reason to see Rose's father since he had connections to this Cybus Network and probably knew exactly what was going on.

They didn't go in right away and instead, they sat in the bushes, watching as cars upon cars came driving up to the large Tyler mansion. It looked like that there was some sort of party going on, which was confirmed by Rose.

"February, the first – mum's birthday," she said before shaking her head and chuckling, "Even in a parallel universe, she still loves to party."

"Well, given Pete Tyler's guest list, I wouldn't mind a look," The Doctor told her. Then he grinned at her deviously, a grin that unknown to him sent shivers down Rose's spine. "And there is one guaranteed way of getting inside." He took out the psychic paper and waved it around.

"Psychic paper!" Rose said excitedly.

The Doctor's grin only widened at the sound of his companion's excitement. "Who do you want to be?"

What they ended up being effectively diminished Rose's excitement.

"We could've been anyone." She complained under her breath as they left the Tyler kitchen, wearing a waiter and waitress uniforms. A woman, in fancy dress, went up to her causing Rose to force a pleasant smile on her lips. The woman only took some food off of her plate before leaving. The smile fell and she returned to scowling.

"Got us in, didn't it?" The Doctor asked, smiling pleasantly at everyone who took food and drinks from him. He honestly didn't mind doing this. He was just happy that they were able to get in like they always did when he used his handy dandy psychic paper.

"You're in charge of the psychic paper." Rose grumbled to him. "We could've been guests. Celebrities. Sir Doctor, Dame Rose. We end up SERVING. I had enough of this back home."

More guests came around, taking champagne and cocktail sticks from their trays, and Rose and the Doctor smiled politely at them.

"If you wanna know what's going on, work in the kitchens." The Doctor told her.

Rose sighed and she didn't complain again as they retreated to the side of the room to watch the proceedings – groups of important people chatting and laughing while there were photographs being taken.

The Doctor noticed someone and nodded in that direction. "According to Lucy, that man over there—"He was cut off by Rose's voice, missing the jealousy hidden in her tone.

"Who's Lucy?"

"She's carrying the salmon pinwheels." The Doctor nodded to a young pretty waitress on the other side of the room and Rose frowned.

"Oh, that's Lucy, is it?"

"…" He paused, glancing over at her with his own small frown, wondering what that tone in her voice was for. Then he shook it off and nodded. "Yeah! Lucy says that is the President of Great Brittan."

"What, there's a President, not a Prime Minister?"

"Seems so."

"Or maybe Lucy's just a bit thick." Rose muttered as they moved on their way with the trays, the jealousy showing a lot more in her voice. But the Doctor was still oblivious to it.

Then Pete Tyler's voice echoed through the room.

"Excuse me!"

Rose perked up, following the sound of his voice. The Doctor sighed, watching after her for a moment before he started to follow her.

"Thank you very much! Thank you – if I could just have your attention, please?"

"Pete! Go on Pete!" A man in the crowd exclaimed.

"Thank you very much!"

"It's about time you did some work. I thought you liked them young!"

Laughter followed this statement as Rose followed Pete's voice to the bottom of the large staircase with the Doctor right behind her.

Rose's dad stood half-way up the steps, dressed in suit and tie, beaming at everyone in the crowd. "Um, I'd like to just say, er, thank you to you all for coming on this special occasion." Pete said, sounding nervous now that everyone was looking at him.

The Doctor looked over at his companion, who was smiling and her eyes sparkled as she gazed up at her father. He sighed again. Even though they were here for a good reason, he didn't know if it was the right decision to come here, especially for Rose. But there was nothing he could do about it now.

"My wife's…thirty-ninth." At this, the people in the crowd laughed and Pete grinned as he gave them a thumbs up. "Trust me on this…" Everyone laughed again appreciatively. "So, without any further ado – here she is. The birthday girl…my lovely wife…Jackie Tyler."

Rose stood up on her tiptoes and strained for a look, earning another glance from the Doctor.

Jackie Tyler descended the staircase, smiling widely at the crowd who applaud and cheer and snap photos. Rose stared at her as she stood next to Pete. Despite the fancy dress and beautiful jewelry, Jackie Tyler looked exactly the same.

Before she addressed the crowd, Jackie turned her head and called up the stairs, "Artemis, dear! Come on!"

A blonde headed woman appeared at the top of the stairs and the Doctor stared at her.

_'__This must be Jackie and Pete's adopted daughter.' _He realized after_ a_ moment after glancing at Rose and seeing the smile fall from her face. The looked over her form, titling his head slightly to the side. He didn't know what it was, but there was something about this woman that was strange and it wasn't the fact that she was wearing combat boots with the blue dress she was wearing or that her name was Artemis. There was something _more_. The Doctor just didn't know _what_ it was.

Artemis went down the stairs to stand next to her mother, who glanced down at the shoes she was wearing then looked back at her with a scolding look, which she responded with a shrug.

Jackie didn't make a comment about and instead turned back to the crowd, scolding look gone and a smile back on her face. "Now, I'm not giving a speech – that's what my parties are famous for, no work, no politics just a few good mates and plenty of black market whiskey." This made the crowd laugh again and she beamed before she spotted the President and laughed in that loud way of hers, "Pardon me, Mr. President." He smiled at her. "So, yeah! Go on with it – enjoy, enjoy."

There was more cheers and Pete took Jackie's hand, descending the rest of the stairs to mingle with the rest of the crowd.

Artemis didn't go with them at first as she stood there for a couple minutes, looking around. Then she sighed and went to go down the stairs, but she stopped as she looked up, catching the Doctor's gaze and he automatically looked away, feeling his cheeks burn with embarrassment at getting caught staring. He looked back up after a couple minutes and found Artemis gone. He tried to find her in the crowd but he couldn't find her. Surprisingly, he found himself feeling disappointed that he couldn't and he didn't know why. But it was probably because something about her intrigued him.

The Doctor shook his head and looked at Rose, who didn't notice him staring at Artemis. She looked deep in thought.

Figuring out what she was thinking about, the Doctor said quietly to her, "You can't stay. Even if there was some way to tell them."

"Course I can't." Rose sighed. "I've still got my mum at home, my real mum. I couldn't just leave her, could I? It's just…" She sighed again but this time it was a sad one. "They've got each other. Mum's got no one." Even though she was upset that they didn't have her in this parallel world but someone else, she was more upset that this Jackie had Pete looking after her and her Jackie didn't.

"She's got you!" The Doctor protested immediately. "Those two haven't!"

"But they have _her_." Rose almost spat out.

"That's not the same!" The Doctor's companion said nothing and he sighed, "All these different worlds, not one gets it right."

"Rose!" Jackie called, causing both of them to look up. Instead of a human voice, this was followed by a series of barks and yelps. A Yorkie popped up on the stairs, running down them. "There's my little girl!"

The dog named Rose pottered over to Jackie, who picked her up. Artemis was over there too and she smiled at the dog, scratching her behind the ear.

"Come to mummy, come to mummy!" Jackie cooed at the dog in a baby voice. "Yes, good girl! Good girl, aren't you?"

The Doctor looked over at Rose only to burst out laughing. The look on her face was priceless!

Rose didn't find it funny and she gave him a look that could kill. Instantly, the Doctor's laughter stopped.

"Sorry." He apologized sheepishly.

* * *

The party hadn't even been going on for long and Artemis was bored out of her mind. It was getting harder and harder to smile. She had been smiling so much that her face was hurting.

She was definitely going to need a few drinks to get through this party.

"Excuse me." Artemis muttered quickly to David something or another, who was trying to flirt with her, and she was having none of it. No offence, but she was interested in dating a human. She got away from him before he could protest and went to find a waiter to get a drink from.

She found one and she recognized him as the one who had been staring at her in a way that she found unnerving. She had no why he had stared at her. However when she caught him staring at her, Artemis couldn't help but stare at him too, especially at his brown eyes. There was so much sadness in them and they looked so old as if they had seen too much in their lifetime. Those big, sad eyes didn't look right on someone so young.

Shaking her head, Artemis went up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. She must have startled him because he jumped, almost dropping his tray as he whirled around to face her but luckily he didn't. Though if he did, he could have accidentally spilled it on her dress and then Artemis would have an excuse to change out of it.

The man's cheeks tingled pink and she almost smirked at the sight of it. "Champagne, Miss Tyler?" he offered, holding up the tray.

Artemis made a fact at him calling her _Miss Tyler_. Ugh, she hated it when people or the servants called her that.

"Call me Artemis, please. None of this Miss Tyler crap." Artemis told him and he nodded quickly as she took two champagnes from his tray. She drank one in one gulp then the other in the same way before setting the empty ones down and grabbing another one. She noticed the way that the man was looking at her and it made her uncomfortable. "What?"

"Er, nothing…" he said quickly. "Um…excuse me." With that, he left her standing there by herself.

Artemis stared after him. _'What a strange man.'_ She thought to herself. She shook her head as she walked off to go find her mother.

While trying to find her, Artemis spotted her father, talking to a blonde waitress. She gave him a thumbs up then said something, which her father responded with his own thumbs, and they laughed.

It took her a moment to recognize the maid. She had been with the Staring Man. Why was she talking to her father and looking at him like she has known him her whole life? Artemis frowned, but decided not to worry about it as she continued her search for her mum. When she couldn't find her at the party, she grew worried and she managed to find her Dad again. This time though, the maid wasn't with him.

"Dad?" Artemis went up to him and he looked at her. "Where's Mum?"

"I think she went outside for fresh air…" he answered.

"Okay."

Sure enough, that's where she was. Artemis stepped outside and Jackie looked up at her from the bench she was sitting on. She smiled at her weakly.

"What's wrong?" Artemis asked concerned as she sat down next to her.

Jackie shook her head. "Nothing dear. It's just your father…"

Artemis knew what she was talking about. She nodded sadly. Artemis knew all about their problems. She was there, so of course she knew about them.

"I'm sorry."

"Not your fault."

Nothing was said between them after that. Artemis didn't mind. She was enjoying the quiet, especially because it was so loud inside, and it was beautiful night too. The silence was broken eventually by the sound of a new voice, causing Artemis to look up. It was the blonde maid that had been talking to her father.

"Mrs. Tyler, is there anything I can get you?" she asked softly, purposely ignoring Artemis. Something, of course, she scowled at.

"The last twenty years back." Jackie laughed tiredly and the maid smiled uncertainly.

"I can manage a glass of champagne…or a nice cup of tea."

This seemed to perk Jackie up. "Oh, that'd do me!" They both laughed and Artemis felt a little jealous, even though she had no reason to be.

The maid sat down next to Artemis, still holding the tray of champagne. "My mum loves that." She said, starting a conversation. "End of a long night – she never goes straight to bed, she always stays up just to have that last cup of tea."

"Oh, I'm the same!" Jackie smiled.

"Two sugars…" The maid stared at her expectantly. For what exact? Artemis had no idea.

Jackie laughed. "And me! Pete always says…" she trailed off and shook her head. "…ah, nevermind him."

Artemis patted her mother's knee with her hand, which Jackie grabbed and held in hers as she sighed. There was a couple minutes of silence until the maid broke it.

"I was talking to him earlier," she said quietly. "He's a nice man. You know, big of a Jack the Lad, I s'pose, even if he has got money, but…he's a good bloke. Better than most." Artemis stared at her with narrowed, wondering why the maid sounded as if she knew him, like _really _knew him like she did. The maid looked at Jackie for a few moments then spoke in a soft voice, "He's worth a second chance."

Artemis shook her head in disbelief. Did she really just say that?

Jackie turned to her sharply with a glare on her face. "Are you commenting on my marriage?" she asked coldly and the maid looked taken back.

"No, I was just—"

"Who the hell do you think you are? You're the staff!" Jackie exclaimed angrily. "You're _nothing _but staff, you're just the serving girl, for God's sake!" The maid looked hurt but she didn't care and went on, "And you are certainly _not_ getting paid. Don't you dare talk to me!" She let go of Artemis' hand and stood up from the bench, stomping off back inside, leaving Artemis and the maid alone outside.

"I can't believe you just said that." Artemis shook her head in disbelief again as she looked over at her only to be surprised at the glare on the maid's face.

"Oh_ shut up_!"

Artemis gaped at her. She didn't just say that. Once she got over her surprise, it was her turn to glare at her as she opened her mouth to snap back at the maid. But before she could, a bright light flashed on suddenly, blinding her for a moment.

The maid squinted her eyes as Artemis closed her own and rubbed her them. What the hell was that?

Artemis opened her eyes back up and let them adjust to the light. Once they did, she noticed that shadowy figures were marching up the lawn. Even with her perfect vision, she couldn't see them properly enough to see what the figures were.

But whatever or whoever they were, it didn't sound like they were very nice if the ominous sound of their feet as they grew close was any hint. Artemis didn't waste any time. She stood to her feet and ran back inside of the mansion with the maid right behind her. Artemis skidded to a stop as she saw the maid run and meet up with the Staring Man. Together, they hurriedly went over to one of the windows, peering out of it, probably to look out at the figure

What they crazy? They could get hurt standing there! Artemis didn't why she cared, but she did. She didn't do anything about though. She had to find her mum and dad. Artemis started to run, however, she didn't get that far as there was a loud crash, coming from the window where the maid and the Staring Man was. She whirled around and her eyes widened at the sight she was met with.

"Oh my God." This was impossible! They were Cybermen!

"Run!"

Artemis was startled out of her shock at the sound of the Staring Man's voice. He ran at her, grabbing her arm and pulling her out of the way with the maid right behind them as the Cybermen stomped towards them and the horrified screams started.

Soon, the Cybermen had everyone in one room with no way out. Artemis was with the maid and the Staring Man, looking around, eyes wide with horror.

"There's just no way." She mumbled. "There's no way that these are Cybermen…" If she had been looking at Staring Man, she would have seen the shocked look on his face.

* * *

_'How does she know about Cybermen?!'_ The Doctor stared at Artemis in shock. _'Just who is this girl?!'_ He didn't have much time to think about it as the President's communication device beeped.

"Lumic." The President said distastefully.

"Mr. President. I suppose a remark about crashing the party would appropriate at this point." Lumic laughed evilly.

"I forbade this."

"These are my children, sir. Would you deny my family?"

"What are they?" Rose asked from the other side of him, under her breath, so only he could hear her. "Robots?"

"Worse than that."

"Who were those people?"

"Doesn't matter."

The Doctor didn't have to look at Rose to know she looked horrified at the President's question. "They're people?"

"They _were," _he corrected her and he saw Artemis flinch from the corner of his eye but he ignored it as he continued. "Until they had all their humanity taken away. It's a living brain jammed inside jammed inside a cybernetic body. With a heart of steel. All emotions."

Rose looked at him confused. "Why no emotions?"

The Doctor's eyes grew sad as he met Rose's gaze. "Because it _hurts_."

"I demand to know, Lumic – these people – who were they?" The President demanded, his voice rising. "

"They were homeless, wretched and useless until I saved them." Lumic responded, "And elevated them. And gave them life – eternal. And now, I leave you in their capable hands. Goodnight, sir. Goodnight, Mr. President." He hung up and one of the Cybermen squared itself in front of the crowd.

"We have been upgraded."

The Doctor decided to speak up. "Into what?" he demanded.

"What are you doing?" Artemis hissed, grabbing his arm.

He pushed her hand off of him roughly and he ignored the glare that she gave him as the Cyberman answered him.

"The next level of mankind. We are Human Point Two. Every citizen will receive a free upgrade. You will become like us."

"I'm so sorry." The President said sadly as he approached the Cyberman. "I'm so sorry for what's been done to you. He turned and walked around, "But listen to me – this experiment ends _tonight_."

"Upgrading is compulsory."

The President turned back around. "And if I refuse?"

"Don't." The Doctor said quickly, causing Rose to glance at him.

"What if I refuse?"

The Doctor stepped forward. "I'm telling you, don't!"

"What if I refuse?" The President repeated, ignoring him.

"Then you are not compatible."

"What happens then?"

"You will be deleted." The Cyberman's metal hand shot forward and grasped the President, whose eyes widened in shock. Suddenly, he was engulfed by electric blue light as he got electrocuted to death. Everyone in the crowd automatically started screaming and running away, causing complete and utter chaos.

"Jackie?! Artemis!"

At the sound of Pete's voice, Artemis went to run so she could go find him, but the Doctor quickly grabbed her arm. Automatically, her head whirled around fast, just not fast enough to cause her whiplash.

"Let go of me!" she snarled. "I need to find my father!"

Rose flinched at that.

"You can't!" The Doctor argued.

"Like hell I can't!" She pulled her arm out of his grip, but he only tugged her back to him.

"Hey! Your father wouldn't want you to go chasing after him!" he told her as she glared at him. "And he wouldn't want you to get hurt, which will happen if you don't come with me!"

Her glare fell and she stared at him silently. Then she sighed, knowing he was right. Her glare came back in full force as she poked him in the chest rather hard.

"Fine, but if he gets hurt, I'm blaming you."

The Doctor nodded. With that settled, he grabbed hers and Rose's hand, tugging them through the chaotic crowd. Unfortunately some people got killed by the Cybermen. The Doctor managed to get all of them out of the mansion by going through one of the windows that the Cybermen broke through.

"There's we can do!"

Rose pulled away from him and tried to go back inside. "My mum's in there!"

Like with Artemis, the Doctor pulled her back. "She's not your mother!" he snapped, which he felt bad for afterwards at the hurt expression on Rose's face, but he ignored it. "Come on!" He pulled her by the hand, bringing Artemis along with them.

They ran up a slope only to be greeted by another row of Cybermen, so they had to change their direction and ran around to the other side of the house.

"Dad!" Artemis suddenly yelled.

Sure enough, there was Pete Tyler.

"Over here! And hurry!"

Pete ran after them and soon enough, he caught up to them. Artemis gave him a tight hug.

"Thank God, you're alright!" she cried happily as he hugged her back. Then she pulled back. "Where's Mum?"

Pete didn't respond, only gave her daughter a sad look. Automatically, tears filled her eyes.

"No…" Artemis whispered.

Seeing the sad look on her face and the tears in her eyes, the Doctor's hearts stung with something. There was no time to figure out what it was.

"I'm sorry, but we don't have time for this," he said to Artemis and Pete. "We have to run."

Thankfully, they didn't argue and they ran all the way to the front of the house. The Doctor looked around quickly, trying to find a way out but there was none.

"Pete, there's no way out!"

"The side gates!" Pete pointed in the direction he was talking about and they ran in that direction. "Who are you? How do you know so much?"

"You wouldn't believe it in a million years—"

They skidded to a halt as they were met by yet another row of Cybermen. The Doctor cursed to himself as they were forced to change directions. But because of this change of direction, he saw two figures running towards the house, holding guns.

"Who's that?!" Rose asked.

That question was answered at the sound of the familiar voice of Mickey. "Get behind me!"

No one hesitated and they ran to stand behind Mickey as he and some other boy started firing their guns at the approaching Cybermen. They stopped marching.

As soon as they stopped, Mickey and the other boy stopped firing their guns and Rose fussed with Mickey's jacket.

"Oh my God." She said relieved. "Look at you…" She pulled him into a tight hug and he looked bewildered by it, causing the Doctor to frown curiously. What was that about? "I thought I'd never see you again!"

Mickey pulled away from her, pulling a face and startling Rose. "Yeah, no offence, sweetheart, but who the hell are you?"

Just then, _another _Mickey came running down the lawn. "Rose!" he called. Once he was to them, he stopped and told her in an out of breath tone, "That's not me. That's like…the other me."

Rose stared at him then at the Mickey double in disbelief. The Doctor was in disbelief even more than she was.

"Oh, as if things weren't bad enough – there's two Mickey's!" he exclaimed. This earned a punch in the arm from Artemis and he looked at her in surprise.

"It's Ricky." Mickey…no Ricky…corrected him in a grumble. "

"But there's more of them…" Mickey said, returning their attention back to the Cybermen.

Everyone looked at the Cybermen in fear, except for the Doctor as they surrounded around them.

"We're surrounded…" Rose said as she gulped.

Rickey raised his gun.

"Put the guns down," The Doctor ordered. He didn't look in his direction as his gaze were on the Cybermen. "Bullets won't stop them."

Rickey listened to him, but the other guy didn't and fired a rally of bullets at the Cybermen. The Doctor angrily pushed his gun aside, gritting his teeth.

"No! Stop shooting now!" he yelled. Then he straightened his back and addressed the surrounding Cybermen, "We surrender! Hands up…" He put his hands up and the rest of them followed right after him. Artemis was the only one though to hesitate but it only lasted for a couple seconds and she raised her hands. The Doctor continued once all their hands were raised, "…there's no need to damage us, we're good stock. We volunteer for the upgrading program. Take us to be processed."

"You are rogue elements."

"But we surrender," The Doctor protested.

"You are incompatible."

"But this is a surrender!" He didn't understand. He was sure surrendering would work.

"You will be deleted."

This made the Doctor's voice raise in frantic tone. "But we're surrendering! Listen to me, we surrender!"

"You are inferior. Man will be reborn as Cybermen but you will perish under maximum deletion." The Cyberman raised its arm and reached towards the Doctor, who didn't have to look to know everyone looked horrified. "Delete. Delete. DELETE!"

* * *

**TBC...**

**In...**

**The Age of Steel, Part 1...**


End file.
